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Expect the unexpected when the Redskins play the Cowboys and don’t take anything for granted.

Case in point: With many believing the Redskins would push their fiercest rival further into oblivion this season while continuing their momentum toward an NFC East title, they came up short in aggravating fashion Monday night at FedExField. Dan Bailey’s 54-yard field goal in the closing seconds gave the Cowboys a 19-16 victory.

The win served as revenge for the Cowboys after the Redskins embarrassed them before a national television audience on Monday night last season, when back up quarterback Colt McCoy led his squad to a 20-17 win. This time, Cowboys backup Matt Cassel, subbing for the injured Tony Romo, pulled off the stunner.

The 5-7 Redskins are now tied with the Eagles and Giants in the NFC East, with the Cowboys breathing new life at 4-8. The Redskins are still atop the division by virtue of a tiebreaker in divisional record, but that should serve as no consolation for Monday night’s loss, which was painful to watch. The NFC East is so bad this year that a 6-10 record could be good enough to win the division.

Where do the Redskins go from here with four games remaining, all against teams now with losing records? Three of those games are on the road, where they’re 0-6 this season.

“Everyone needs to have a short-term memory,” linebacker Will Compton said in a despondent post-game locker room. “We have to move on because this is over with. We’ve just got to be hard on ourselves. At the end of the day, we control our own destiny.”

Defensive end Ricky Jean Francois: “I feel like we’re playing poker. These last four games are the highest stakes you can get. We’ve got to do everything in our power. We’ve got to play Redskin football. This is where the real test of the NFL comes in.”

For the Redskins to pass that test, they need to address some serious problems.

--- In their past two games, they’ve scored only three points off of five turnovers (two interceptions, three fumbles) that gave them possession in opposing territory. That's pitiful. They’re not going to win many games when not capitalizing on those opportunities, but hats off to an opportunistic defense for creating those chances.

--- The defense has to pressure the quarterback. Cassel was sacked only once for a loss of two yards and had a lot of time to throw behind the Cowboys' talented offensive line. He made some big throws as part of a 16 of 29, 222-yard performance. The Redskins played much of the game without two injured starters on the line, Jason Hatcher and Stephen Paea.

--- Penalties are crippling the Redskins’ ability to mount scoring drives. They were penalized nine times for 73 yards against the Cowboys, with an illegal crackback block by receiver Ryan Grant and a pass interference by receiver Pierre Garcon wiping out first downs. Tight end Jordan Reed, who has committed a slew of penalties in recent weeks, was called for pass interference, erasing a 3rd and 1 situation. Some of those calls appeared to be petty, but the players took the high road afterward. “The refs called a hell of a game,” Francois said. “We can’t get mad at them. We can only get mad at ourselves.”

--- The running needs to find a consistent footing. The Redskins rushed for only 73 yards against Dallas (2.8 average), with Matt Jones tallying a high of 49. Give credit to the Cowboys’ defense, which appeared to be very quick to the ball for most of the game, but the ability to gain yards on the ground is a must because it keeps defenses honest. In six of the last seven games, The Redskins haven't even averaged three yards a carry.

--- Special teams needs to do better. Almost automatic Dustin Hopkins missed a 43-yard field goal with the chance to put the Redskins up by six midway through the fourth quarter. Hopkins also failed to force a touchback on a kickoff that Cowboys speedster Lucky Whitehead returned 46 yards, setting up the winning score. Whitehead returned three punts for 31 yards and two kickoffs for 70, including the 46-yarder. Then there's Redskins receiver DeSean Jackson, who I'll get to in a minute.

You can’t put this loss on quarterback Kirk Cousins, who continued to make a solid case for a contract extension (22-31, 219 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT). He’s thrown no interceptions in his last six home games, the longest home-interception streak by a Redskins quarterback since at least 1960. He also became the first Redskins quarterback to open a season with a touchdown pass in 12 straight games since Sonny Jurgensen in 1967. Cousins' lofted a pretty 28-yard pass to Jackson that tied the game at 16 in the final minute.

Just prior to that, Jackson made a colossal mistake when fielding a punt with the score tied at 9 and less than two minutes left. As Redskins faithful watched in horror, he tried to find room by running backward and across field, nearly going into his own end zone before fumbling the ball, which Dallas recovered on the Redskins’ 15. Two plays later, the Cowboys scored to go up, 16-9. Redskins coach Jay Gruden exonerated him afterward, but if nothing else, this game will be remembered as the "DeSean Jackson Blunder Game."

Next week, the Redskins find themselves in Soldier Field to face the 5-7 Bears, followed by Buffalo at home and the Eagles and Cowboys again in enemy territory. Gruden, who's 9-19 in his second season and has won only one road game, talked about the urgency of piecing together back-to-back wins and winning on the road for the first time this season.

“We’ve shown flashes, good quarters, good games here and there,” he said. “The great teams, the ones that advance in the playoffs and win Super Bowls, are consistent, and we have not been. That’s something that is a challenge for us as a coaching staff and players.”

So what are we to make of Kirk Cousins after four games this season? He’s completed 68.6 percent of his passes (105 of 153) for 1,005 yards, with four touchdown passes, four interceptions and a quarterback rating is 84.5. Those are very good numbers.

But Coach Jay Gruden didn’t want to see only impressive stats when he elevated Cousins to the starting role before the season-opener. He also hoped that the fourth-year man would show steady progress toward becoming a solid NFL quarterback, and a quarter of the way into the 2015 season, it’s clear that Cousins' command of the game has improved markedly.

Nothing exemplifies that more than his leadership on the brilliant 15-play, 90-yard touchdown march that beat the Eagles, 23-20, on Sunday at FedExField. Simply put, Cousins was “cool as ice water on that drive,” offensive tackle Trent Williams told me.

Indeed, Cousins looked super-composed on the drive, which began with 6:10 remaining and consumed more than five and half minutes, leaving the Eagles with just seconds to mount a tying drive. He completed 6 of 10 passes as the Redskins used a nice combination of runs and passes to methodically move downfield. He converted two manageable third downs through the air, the second being his 14-yard pass to Pierre Garcon that produced a first down on the Eagles’ 16. He hit Garcon for 12 yards on the next play and two plays later on 2nd and goal from the 4 found No. 88 again for the touchdown.

On the winning score, Cousins threw a dart to Garcon as he broke to the outside along the goal line, caught the ball in between two birds and held on despite taking a hard hit.

“Kirk made a beautiful pass,” Williams said. “He showed nerves of steel, never wavered. He made the plays he had to make, the throws he had to make.”

Rookie receiver Jamison Crowder, who produced career-highs with seven catches for 62 yards, said Cousins was “calm and kept everybody else calm” on the game-winning drive.

Cousins completed a career-high 31 passes in 46 attempts for 290 yards with one touchdown and most importantly no interceptions against Philly. His 31 completions were the most by a Redskins quarterback in a single game against Philadelphia in the 161-game history of the Redskins-Eagles rivalry. He spoke earlier in the season about the process he and his teammates have been undergoing to “learn what it takes to win.” After the win over the Eagles, he expounded again on his maturation as an NFL quarterback.

“I know that final drive I wasn’t capable of doing when I came into the league as a rookie,” he said. “It takes time. It takes failures. It takes learning from experiences and a combination of … I guess it would be three-plus seasons worth of work got me to the point where I was able to make the necessary plays on that drive. It’s a process, and I’m just going to keep working and keep learning from these experiences and keep getting better.”

Beating the Eagles was significant because the Redskins are now 2-2 with an injection of self-confidence, instead of 1-3 and eyeing a dire situation against a 4-0 Falcons squad next Sunday in Atlanta.

Less than two weeks ago, questions were surfacing about how long Cousins would last as the starter before being yanked, and if Robert Griffin III would be given another shot under center or if Colt McCoy would take the reins. Cousins had just turned in an embarrassing performance in a 32-21 Thursday night loss to the Giants, when he looked lost until some window-dressing late in the game, throwing two interceptions and seriously under-throwing tight end Jordan Reed twice on potential touchdowns. The quarterback ignominiously dubbed an “interception machine” lived up to that tag during the loss in the Meadowlands.

But I said it then and will continue to say it: Kirk Cousins should remain the Redskins’ starter for the rest of the season, barring injury, in order to give the coaches an honest feel for whether he’s the team's quarterback of the future. Of the three QBs on the roster, he provides the Redskins the best chance to win now and has the greatest upside. Sure, he’s going to turn in regrettable performances at times, and we must all be prepared for that. But patience is a must and making any short-term knee-jerk decisions is in nobody’s best interest. Plus, it’s too soon to tell if the Redskins should consider picking one of the marquee quarterbacks early in next year’s draft.

Cousins believes that he’s gradually absorbing Gruden’s system.

“I think the system has allowed quarterbacks to be successful, but I know from where I see it’s taken time,” Cousins said. “It’s taken time for me to learn, for me to fail, for me to make a mistake in practice or in a game and say, `Okay, if I choose to do that this is the result.’ Last week, I felt like I missed a touchdown pass because I didn’t adjust the protection. This week, I did adjust the protection and got the touchdown.”

Gruden is pleased with what he sees in No. 8.

“He’s putting us in position to win in the fourth quarter, and we finally did that,” the second-year coach said. “Making a key drive at the end to win it, it’s great to see our quarterback and our entire team do that because we’re going to have other games that are going to be close like this.”

Former Redskins DE Dexter Manley, the team's all-time sack master with 97.5, joins host Mike Richman on this episode of "Burgundy & Gold Flashback." Manley, a Redskin from 1981-89, speaks in part about the team's 37-34 loss to the Eagles just days prior and the upcoming Thursday night game against the Giants. Never at a loss for words, he says a lot of interesting things about Jay Gruden and Robert Griffin III.

Former Redskins MLB Neal Olkewicz is Mike Richman's special guest on this episode of "Burgundy & Gold Flashback." Olkewicz talks about his memorable career in D.C. (1979-89), the Redskins' 40-10 win over Jacksonville a few days earlier, and the injury to QB Robert Griffin III that opened the door for his backup, Kirk Cousins. Olky, who played his college ball at Maryland, also speaks about the Terps' move from the ACC to the Big 10 Conference. At the time, Maryland football was days away from kicking off against Big 10 competition.

In this episode of "Burgundy & Gold Flashback," Jeff Bostic, one of the greatest centers in Redskins history, shares his thoughts with host Mike Richman on the 2014 Redskins with the season just kicking off. He talks about the hiring of rookie NFL coach Jay Gruden and compares him to Joe Gibbs, the Redskins' legend whose first season as an NFL head coach was in 1981, Bostic's second season in D.C. He also discusses the Redskins' apparent offensive explosiveness (i.e., new speedy WR DeSean Jackson) in relation to the need for continuity on the O-line just like that which existed during his playing days in D.C. with the "Hogs." Bostic, a charter member of the "Hogs," also elaborates on his appearance on a new TV commercial for pizza chain Papa John's and his 14-year career as a Redskin (1980-1993).

The play was vintage Mike Ditka: fierce, ruthless and determined. With his Chicago Bears trailing the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-14 in the fourth quarter of a 1963 game, Ditka caught a pass in the flat. The powerful tight end immediately shrugged off two defenders and charged downfield. Iron Mike ground out chunks of yards while evading three more tacklers. A sixth opponent tried in vain. When Ditka finally went down, he had completed a 63-yard catch and run that set up a field goal, evening the game at 17. The late-season tie was critical for the Bears, who remained in the Western Division lead and went on to win the NFL championship.

Fifty years ago, the Redskins and Eagles clashed on a day that had a strange and melancholy feel to it.

The stoic crowd of 61,000 at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field lacked the customary exuberance of an NFL game, and many of the players were “going through the motions,” said Carl Kammerer, a Redskins defensive end who played that day.

The date was Sunday, Nov. 24, 1963, two days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. A traumatized nation stricken with anguish was coping with the realization that its leader was gone.

The Redskins’ backs were to the wall on Sunday against Oakland. Having lost their first three games, they trailed 14-3 in a game they had to win to maintain any realistic playoff hopes.

But early in the second quarter, rookie cornerback David Amerson made his first career interception and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown. The play was pivotal. The Redskins went on to post a 24-14 victory and left Oakland breathing new life.

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Mike Richman is the man with all of the answers when it comes to Redskins history. A journalist who has covered sports for a quarter-century, Mike is the author of the two most comprehensive books on Redskins history – the Washington Redskins Football Vault and The Redskins Encyclopedia. He also served as lead editor and co-author of Joe Gibbs: An Enduring Legacy, a photo-heavy book that highlights the amazing life achievements of legendary Redskins coach Joe Gibbs. Mike's articles on Redskins history have appeared in myriad publications, and he has hosted an award-winning Redskins TV show called “Burgundy & Gold Magazine” and a podcast called "Burgundy & Gold Flashback."

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About Mike

Redskins historian and journalist Mike Richman is the author of the two most comprehensive books on Redskins history – The Redskins Encyclopedia and the Washington Redskins Football Vault: The History of a Proud Franchise. Mike also served as lead editor and co-author of Joe Gibbs: An Enduring Legacy, a photo-heavy book that reviews the amazing life achievements of legendary Redskins coach Joe Gibbs. Mike has also hosted a podcast focusing on Redskins history called "Burgundy & Gold Flashback," which brings listeners front and center with the team's tradition, and he has produced and hosted a TV show called "Burgundy & Gold Magazine." For his work on "Burgundy & Gold Magazine," Mike won first place for sports coverage in the nationally recognized 2013 Hometown Media Awards sponsored by the Alliance for Community Media. He's been interviewed extensively by print and broadcast media on Redskins...